School attendance down sharply after threat

A law enforcement officer walks Thursday April 24, 2014 in the parking lot of Ridgeview Elementary School after a threat was made to an unnamed elementary school. School officials are taking extra precautions to ensure school safety.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/San Antonio Express-News

Police cars are parked in front of Coker Elementary school Thursday April 24, 2014 as extra precautions are being taken after a threat was recently made to an area elementary school.

Photo By Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News

A San Antonio Police Department unit leaves after conducting a drive through of the parking lot at Passmore Elementary School, Thursday, April 24, 2014. After a threat of a mass shooting at an unnamed school, the Northside Independent School District implemented a closed campus plan on Thursday even though SAPD Chief William McManus said it wasn't a credible threat. Several there school districts step up their security for the day.

Photo By Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News

An Edgewood Independent School District police officer is seen standing guard outside Gardendale Elementary School on Dahlgreen Avenue, Thursday, April 24, 2014. After letter threatening a mass shooting was sent to the Northside Independent School District, several area districts stepped up their police presence on school campuses even though SAPD Chief William McManus said it wasn't a credible threat.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus talks Thursday April 24, 2014 at Shirley J. Howsman Elementary School in the Northside Independent School District following a threat made at an unnamed elementary school. Officials are taking precautions to ensure school safety.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/San Antonio Express-News

Marjorie Mautz (center) takes her grandchildren out of Shirley J. Howsman Elementary School in the Northside Independent School District Thursday April 24, 2014 after a threat of a mass shooting at area schools was allegedly made. Officials are taking precautions Thursday to ensure school safety. Mautz is holding the hand of Francisco Trevino III,5, and to the left is Austin Mautz,9.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/San Antonio Express-News

Marjorie Mautz (right)) takes her grandchildren out of Shirley J. Howsman Elementary School in the Northside Independent School District Thursday April 24, 2014 after a threat of a mass shooting at area schools was allegedly made. Mautz is holding the hand of Francisco Trevino III,5,and to the left of Trevino is Austin Mautz,9. Officials are taking precautions Thursday to ensure school safety. San Antonio Police Chief William McManus (third from left) speaks to people after school opened.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus (third from left) talks Thursday April 24, 2014 at Shirley J. Howsman Elementary School in the Northside Independent School District following a threat made at an unnamed elementary school. Officials are taking precautions to ensure school safety.

Parents at Buckner Fanning Christian School in the Stone Oak area are on campus for Fiesta Field Day on Thursday, April 24, 2014. Parents are being asked to sign in and ensure they have a name tag before heading out to the field events.

Parents at Buckner Fanning Christian School in the Stone Oak area are on campus for Fiesta Field Day on Thursday, April 24, 2014. Parents are being asked to sign in and ensure they have a name tag before heading out to the field events.

Photo By LeAnna Kosub/Express-News

A police officer watches over Fiesta Field Day at Buckner Fanning Christian School.

Photo By John Davenport / San Antonio Express-News

Marjorie Mautz takes grandsons Austin Mautz, 9, and Francisco Trevino III, 5, out of Shirley J. Howsman Elementary School in the Northside Independent School District because of the emailed threat of mass violence.

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SAN ANTONIO — A war of nerves between elementary school parents and a presumed email hoaxster who had threatened a mass killing ended Thursday without violence.

But the threat had an impact: a potential multimillion-dollar drop in state funding to the city's school districts based on average daily attendance.

Most parents heeded official assurances that the threat wasn't credible, but absenteeism was up sharply.

Northside Independent School District had an overall attendance rate of 57 percent. It was 62 percent at North East ISD and 65.7 percent at San Antonio ISD. Typically, all three districts, the city's largest, see 95 percent attendance.

“The loss in instructional time is significant, and the fear and anxiety caused to parents, teachers and students is also immeasurable,” Northside spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said.

The threatening emails, sent to various Northside elementary campuses last weekend, had predicted mass killing at an unspecified school Thursday morning — which came and went without incident. Authorities said they had to take it seriously even as they dismissed it as a likely hoax.

Districts that experience a sharp one-day decline in attendance can seek a waiver with the Texas Education Agency to recover some of the money, an agency spokeswoman said. Some district officials said they planned to pursue it.

Northside lost more than $1.4 million in state funding, Gonzalez said.

For San Antonio ISD, “if looking at just the elementary number, it is an impact of more than $300,000,” district spokeswoman Leslie Price said. “If you look at overall attendance ... the impact is about $500,000.”

Extra police patrols and, at many campuses, a heavy outdoor presence of administrators and auxiliary employees were visible at campuses across the city.

Ana Acevedo said that when she first heard of the threats, her initial reaction was panic — and many of her friends decided to keep their children home from Northside's Colonies North Elementary. But after studying the email's language, she said, “It just sounded like someone that was crazy.” She took her two daughters to school.

“I think the whole city coming together as a front really brings a lot of confidence,” she said.

But Marjorie Mautz picked up her two grandsons, ages 5 and 9, just after they got to Shirley J. Howsman Elementary in Northside ISD. The family had sent the boys to school before remembering that Thursday was the day specified in the threat.

In this day and age, Mautz said, someone could make good on a threat of mass violence, adding, “It might be a joke, but it's not a very nice joke.”

Some districts limited campus access to a single door, with no parents or visitors allowed in.

“We 100 percent believe that this is not credible,” Police Chief William McManus said of the threat Thursday, declining to say how close investigators were to identifying the person who had made it.

“We're on top of this,” McManus said during a tour of several Northside elementary schools. “We're good with where we are.”

Parental reaction to the threat was all but imperceptible outside Cambridge Elementary School in Alamo Heights, aside from the presence of a handful of additional school staff and a police officer stationed at the front door.

Laurie Bauman, whose twins attend second grade there, said she had almost forgotten that “today was the day” until the sight of a police car reminded her.

“When I heard about the threat, I thought, 'Gosh, we live in such an evil world,' but I wasn't going to keep them home because I don't want to live in fear,” she said.

The district's attendance numbers were “pretty typical” except at its elementary schools. Those schools were at 80 percent, which “could be attributed to the fact that it is the day before a school holiday” and the day after STAAR testing, or State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, Alamo Heights ISD spokeswoman Patti Pawlik-Perales said in an email.

James Justitz said that while he didn't talk to his daughter, a first-grader, about the threat, she noticed the heightened security immediately.

“Kids are pretty perceptive,” he said. “She asked me why police were out, and I said that it was because people were speeding.”

Parents, students and teachers cheerfully streamed into Harmony Elementary School at East Central ISD, unwilling to crush students' anticipation of a 20-year tradition at the school in which first-graders hold a Fiesta float parade of decorated shoe boxes. Some were a tribute to comic book superheroes. Others were about American pride, and a few showcased the school mascot, the mighty Hornet.

East Central officials decided to hold the event and allow parents to attend. Several districts adopted some form of a soft lockdown and canceled events.

“We want it to be like any other school day,” said East Central spokeswoman Ashley Chohlis, who has three children at Harmony. “There are always going to be threats, but we always work to have the best security possible any day.”

Christina Cornelius, a parent who has three children in East Central, said she had “no doubt” in the morning when getting her kids ready despite some of her relatives urging her to keep them home. She strolled with two of them into Harmony's main building, as daughter Cadence tightly clutched her Fiesta float in bright pink with her name on it.

“You have to teach your children not to be scared and go about their normal lives and should encourage them to have some trust,” Cornelius said.

A police officer greeted parents outside the school. Many already knew the officer.

“I think it's always on the back of a parent's mind,” said Randy Shaw, whose son attends Harmony. “I feel like most parents bringing their kids to school today have trust in their school security and local law enforcement.”

Shaw added that his other child, a 14-year-old boy, chose to stay home not really because of the threat, but more to extend his weekend because the state-mandated STAAR testing concluded at his campus Wednesday and school is out Friday for the Battle of Flowers Parade.

“OK, then you can mow the yard and weed-eat some grass,” Shaw said he told his son. “We put him to work.”